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Dear Friends,
My antitrust team continued its work in August to ensure we have a truly free market. Competition is good for consumers. Illegal monopolies, however, reduce choices and drive up consumer costs.
My team held Google accountable for its unlawful monopoly over search engines and filed a lawsuit against a national software company for an illegal price-fixing scheme to keep rents high.
Former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall said antitrust laws "are the Magna Carta of free enterprise. They are as important to the preservation of economic freedom and our free-enterprise system as the Bill of Rights is to the protection of our fundamental personal freedoms." My antitrust team is nationally recognized for upholding these values.
The team's legal work will continue this month. On Sept. 16, trial will begin in King County Superior Court in our case to stop an illegal merger between Albertsons and Kroger. We assert this merger will drive up grocery costs on Washingtonians and limit their choices.
The work of my antitrust team and the other civil law enforcement divisions in my office has paid dividends for Washington state. Their legal work during the last decade brought in more than $2.6 billion for the state. We received national recognition last month for our work stopping price-fixing on chicken products. You can watch a clip from that coverage here: https://x.com/AGOWA/status/1831365943244779925
Here are just some highlights of the incredible legal work my office engages in every day to stand up for Washingtonians:
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In a historic ruling, a federal judge agreed with my office, other state attorneys general and the U.S. Department of Justice that Google's search business is an unlawful monopoly. Google used exclusionary contracts and preferential business practices to protect its monopoly over online search engines. The judge will soon issue an order on how Google will end this monopoly. More on that case here: https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/federal-judge-agrees-ag-ferguson-google-s-search-business-unlawful-monopoly
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I partnered with a bipartisan group of state attorneys general and the U.S. Department of Justice to sue a national software company for conspiring with landlords to inflate rental prices. My office asserts RealPage shared sensitive housing data with landlords to help raise rents and maximize profits. One client called RealPage's business model "classic price fixing." The cost of housing is putting a strain on too many working families. My legal team and I will stand up to this collusion and fight for affordable rents for Washingtonians. More about that case here: https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/ag-ferguson-files-antitrust-lawsuit-asserting-realpage-helps-landlords-conspire
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Over the last decade, my office's civil law enforcement divisions brought in more than $2.6 billion for the state, including nearly $800 million in direct payments, debt relief and credits for Washingtonians. My office takes on powerful special interests that refuse to play by the rules and puts money back in the pockets of Washingtonians. At the same time, we've provided well over a billion dollars to state, local and tribal governments to fight the opioid epidemic, clean up environmental pollution, combat Medicaid fraud and more. As the people's attorney, I will continue fighting every day for Washingtonians. Learn more about our recoveries here: https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/attorney-general-s-lawsuits-result-more-26-billion-washington-last-decade
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My office also recovered more than $5.2 million that Washingtonians can get back through the state's unclaimed property program. The state of Delaware held onto funds from uncashed checks issued through MoneyGram, so my office joined with 29 other states to sue Delaware and get the money back. You can see if you have unclaimed property in your name at www.ClaimYourCash.org. Delaware has a similar site, https://unclaimedproperty.delaware.gov/, that you can also search.
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Funding from our office's Sexual Assault Kit Initiative supported a law enforcement investigation that resulted in the arrest of a man living in Arkansas. Kenneth Kundert, 65, is suspected of killing 30-year-old Dorothy "Dottie" Silzel in 1980. SAKI-funded forensic genetic genealogy testing helped narrow the list of suspects and ultimately led to Kundert's arrest. He is expected to be extradited to Washington. More about that arrest in this Seattle Times story: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/forensic-genealogy-leads-to-murder-charge-in-1980-kent-cold-case/
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We filed a civil rights lawsuit against a University Place apartment complex for discriminating against applicants with disabilities. An investigation by my Wing Luke Civil Rights Division showed apartment complex managers refused to accept applications from prospective tenants with disabilities who used benefits or subsidies to pay for some of their housing costs. The Legislature amended the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act in 2018 to specifically prohibit landlords from refusing to rent to otherwise qualified tenants based on their source of income. More on that case here: https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/ag-ferguson-files-enforcement-action-against-apartment-complex-university-place
I am tremendously grateful for the hard work all the attorneys and professional staff in the Office of the Attorney General do to uphold the law, return money to Washingtonians and protect your fundamental personal freedoms. Thanks for following the work of my office.
Also, since Labor Day just passed, I wanted to include our annual Labor Day report. We returned more than $125,000 in unpaid wages to workers last year and recovered more than $42 million in stolen unemployment benefits using a first-of-its kind legal strategy. The full report is available here: https://agportal-s3bucket.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploadedfiles/Another/News/Press_Releases/2024%20LDR.pdf?VersionId=PdbT5uHQSSOnrt2vF7UoCQQ25V6Od9jm
Sincerely,
Bob Ferguson
Washington State Attorney General
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